PAUL HORTON has urged Lancashire fans not to panic despite the club sitting second from bottom of the table.

The Red Rose go into their latest clash with Middlesex at Aigburth, which starts today still looking for their first win in the LV= County Championship table having lost three and drawn three of their opening six games.

With a third of the campaign already gone, they are a massive 51 points behind leaders Warwickshire and their hopes of winning back-to-back titles are dwindling.

Putting enough runs on the board has been the main problem, with Lancashire having passed 200 just three times in 10 Championship innings this year.

Horton, however, provided one of the highlights of the season when he scored an unbeaten 137 against the leaders on Saturday to secure what looked like an unlikely draw, with the Red Rose following on having been bowled out for 197 in reply to Warwickshire’s 557-6 declared.

And now the opening batsman believes Lancashire can build on that performance – and hasn’t ruled out a title bid.

“As a group of batsmen and a group of players, we were written off last year and we won the Championship,” said Horton.

“This year, going into the Warwickshire fixture, we were third or fourth in Division One for batting bonus points. It's not only us not scoring big runs.

“It's clear we haven’t applied ourselves as well as we'd like, we haven’t had the breaks and we haven’t gone on to score 400 a lot of times.

“But there's no need to panic. It's a competitive division. A few wins, and we'll be back up there.”

Until Saturday, Horton – one of only two Lancashire players to pass 1,000 Championship runs last season – had had a difficult start to the season with 24 his highest score.

“It was nice to get some time in the middle,” he said. “It's been a tough start with the wickets we have played on and the odd decision which may not go your way.

“But that's part and parcel of the game. When it rolls, it rolls one way.

If you can change that as individuals and as a team, which we're trying to do, then obviously it will help us in the future and as we kick on.”